Back in Eralsa, six more SAT warships pulled into view alongside the two already closing in — carrying the Third Commander, Garoda, and the same figure Kei had sensed earlier, the one radiating something far darker than the rest. The ships opened fire almost immediately, cannon after cannon tearing into Eralsa's defenses, splitting the docks apart and setting the wreckage ablaze.
The Iron Turtle and Blue Whale fleets returned fire, but it was already clear they were outmatched — the South's guns had longer range, sharper aim, and shells that hit harder than anything Iona or Horris had brought to the fight.
Evacuation orders went out for the island's residents almost at once.
Grand Marshal Leonardo Romago found the Shogun quickly, voice tight with urgency. "We need to move the meeting. Deeper into Horris, somewhere the enemy can't reach."
The Shogun agreed without hesitation, only adding, "I'm coming with you. I want eyes on their safety myself."
Leonardo didn't argue the point.
"What in the world is happening?" King Logan's voice boomed across the room, sharp with disbelief. "You're telling me the Southern Alliance actually broke through our naval line?"
"My apologies, Your Majesty." Leonardo's jaw was tight. "We just received word — the Warlord of the South joined the assault personally. That's how they broke through so fast." He hesitated before continuing. "But the latest intelligence says he's changed course. He's headed for Saeho now."
"Saeho?" The Emperor's head snapped up. "Does that mean—?!"
"Yes, Your Highness. I received that report too." The Shogun's voice was steady, though something tight sat behind his eyes. "I chose not to bring it to you sooner — didn't want to distract you from the Summit itself. But my son, Eunjoo, is already there. Grandmaster Lingshu as well. I have faith it'll hold."
The Emperor kept his composure, though something heavier settled behind his expression. "We've held two summits before this one, and never once has the South committed to a full invasion during either. We clearly misjudged how much strength they've built up these past years."
Beside him, the Crown Princess sat with her thoughts elsewhere entirely, worry gnawing at her — Yul's face kept surfacing in her mind, unbidden, no matter how hard she tried to focus on the room around her.
Prince Edward drifted closer, leaning in with practiced warmth. "Don't worry yourself, Crown Princess Akira. I'll see to it nothing happens to you."
Akira managed an awkward, hollow laugh in response. "Thanks. I guess."
An imperial guard arrived a moment later to announce the skywhales were ready for departure. But the instant they stepped outside, the scene waiting for them stopped everyone cold — every single skywhale already run through with massive spears of solid shadow, pinned and dying where they floated.
Before anyone could even process it, dark shackles tore up out of the ground beneath their feet, locking around ankles and wrists, holding every one of them fast.
Then, slowly, a shape began to gather itself out of the shadows pooling across the ground — rising, solidifying, until a woman stood where there had been only darkness a moment before. Pale skin, black hair, eyes a deep, burning red. A cloak of black feathers hung off her shoulders, and a crescent moon, red as fresh blood, curved across her forehead, a matching line trailing down beneath each eye.
"Victorina!" the Grand Marshal's voice cracked with alarm.
The shackles held firm no matter how hard anyone strained against them. Even the Shogun couldn't break free at first.
"Don't bother struggling." Victorina's gaze settled on King Logan, and something like satisfaction crossed her face. "I honestly never thought I'd finally get my hands on you. Those SAT fools turned out to be exactly what I needed."
Dark hands rose out of the shackles then, wrapping around every throat at once, squeezing.
"My Emperor!" The Shogun's voice tore free through the pressure closing around his own neck. He flooded his body with anima, strength surging thirtyfold, and broke free of the shackles with a single violent motion. He was moving before the dust settled, closing on the witch fast, fist already swinging — only for her entire body to dissolve into a wash of black smoke the instant before contact.
A stake of stone erupted from the ground beneath him a heartbeat later. He barely twisted clear in time, more stakes chasing him across the ground as he rolled and dodged, refusing to slow down.
What he didn't see coming was the fireball.
It slammed into him from the side, full force, the explosion rolling out in a wave of flame that kept burning long after the impact itself had passed.
Victorina smiled, watching the fire climb. "Good work, Crisselle. Mara."
"That was amazing! I love explosions so much!" Crisselle's voice rang out, bright and delighted, entirely too pleased with herself. She and Mara wore feathered dresses matching Victorina's own, though Crisselle's ran pale grey and Mara's a deep blood red.
Victorina's attention swung back to King Logan, smile widening. "Now. Where were we?"
"Victorina." The Grand Marshal's voice shook with barely restrained fury. "If you lay one more hand on the King, I swear on the God of the Sky, Aerion, you will pay for it with your life."
"Is that so?" Her tone stayed light, almost bored — and a stake tore up from the ground and drove straight through King Logan's chest.
"My King!" Leonardo's scream tore through the chaos.
"King Logan!" the Emperor shouted.
"Father!" Prince Edward's voice cracked entirely, raw with horror.
Victorina laughed, low and satisfied — and in that same instant, while everyone else stood frozen in shock, the Shogun was already moving. He crossed the distance in a blink, and his fist connected with the side of Victorina's skull before she even registered the danger. The impact sent her flying, and the explosion where she landed tore a crater into the earth.
The shackles lost their grip instantly, dark stakes dissolving back into smoke and sinking into the ground.
"Mother!" Crisselle and Mara screamed in unison, both bolting toward the crater.
Crisselle summoned another fireball on instinct, but the Grand Marshal closed the gap faster, his blade taking her head before she could even fully form it.
Mara turned to run. The Shogun caught her mid-stride, appearing behind her in a blink, and drove her body into the ground before hurling her aside like she weighed nothing at all.
Imperial guards and medical practitioners swarmed King Logan a moment later. He was still breathing, barely conscious, and a high-tier healer went to work immediately, stabilizing him — though even her skill could only stop the bleeding and knit the worst of the torn tissue back together. Full recovery would take weeks.
As for Victorina, the Shogun's punch had snapped her neck clean. Only some dark spell holding her body together had kept her head attached at all — without it, she'd have died on impact.
Both the Shogun and the Grand Marshal felt it the moment her presence stirred again.
"She's still alive," the Shogun said grimly.
"Of course she is. That witch never dies that easily. She's been the bane of this kingdom for longer than I care to remember." Leonardo's jaw tightened. "But the royal family comes first. We get them clear of this place. Nothing else matters right now."
The Shogun nodded, and they moved fast, no further discussion needed.
Meanwhile, on the shore, Garoda and the rest of the SAT forces finally made landfall, breaking through what remained of the island's defenses.
A full-scale clash was seconds from erupting. Horris soldiers and Sunhonghin imperial guards braced together along the beach, weapons raised, watching the enemy close in.
The Summit itself was called off entirely. Elite guards moved fast to get King Logan and Prince Edward to safety, the Grand Marshal close behind them. The Emperor and the Crown Princess were escorted out just as quickly, the Shogun keeping pace at their side.
Garoda charged straight into the thick of the fighting, bellowing orders, rallying his men toward the heart of the battle.
Yejin, Yul, and Vincent moved to reinforce the frontline the moment the fighting broke out, weapons already drawn.
Kei held back just a moment longer, Deathsight flaring as he swept the battlefield for that same malicious presence he'd sensed offshore. He also sensed Victorina, even from his distance, practically glowing with corruption in his vision, a deep, saturated purple bleeding off her like smoke, marking her as something far beyond ordinary danger.
"This isn't looking good," Kei thought, settling into a ready stance as chaos broke out around him on every side. "Are we seriously the only division deployed out here?"